Round Two, Spectator Entry 1: Something Wicked
The rain continued to pour and made the evening even blacker. The wind howled, forcing the water into the buildings, cars, and people as if the droplets were bullets. Somewhere in the dark city of Prague, a train screeched to a stop at a mildly busy station.
The doors hissed open, and the passengers began to shuffle out, using anything from umbrellas to newspapers to try to keep dry. They all walked briskly, trying to minimize the time they had to stay in the wet, dreary weather. Toward the back of the train, a passenger in sunglasses, a bowler hat and a brown coat slipped through the crowd much like a shadow. He was clutching a hand to his side, but despite his efforts, a bit of blood was seeping through a gap in his fingers. After stopping for a moment to glance behind him, the stranger ducked into a nearby alley.
Further up the train, an old man in navy robes adorned with gold stumbled off the train, seeming to be in a rush. A small, young woman in brightly colored, Eastern-style clothing followed in his footsteps. The man frantically scanned the crowd, then, scowling, spat, "Lost 'im."
The woman sighed. "Well, he cannot have gotten too far, could he? Not with the injuries he sustained, at any rate. Shall I search for him?"
While the old man caught his breath and pondered his answer, there was a slight whooshing sound above them, and he reflexively drew the large handgun that had been holstered on his side. Without thinking, he fired toward the noise.
The shouts of "GUN!" and the screams of panic spread like wildfire through dry fields. Umbrellas and briefcases were thrown to the wayside, forgotten in the rush to escape from the 'crazy old guy with the hand cannon.' None of this seemed to bother the odd pair, though; the old man kept shooting, changing where he was aiming only slightly with each shot, and the young woman stood by his side, watching the air above them and waiting.
One of the bullets seemed to hit something. Some of the darkness above them pulsed and hissed, but it quickly vanished as if dissolving into mist. The mist was scattered by the wind, and was gone. The woman growled and extended her right arm from her sleeve, revealing long, black claws in the place of nails. "Think you can escape, do you?! You cannot stay like that forever, scum!"
She prepared to take off in the direction of the wind, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. The young woman looked over her shoulder and saw the old man shake his head.
The woman sighed again, pulling down her sleeve so that her hands were once again covered. "So close..."
After a moment, the old man put away his gun. "...Wasted all my ammo on 'im, too. Nothin' we can do about it now, though. Let's jus' go report to the local IFPE base."
"Mister Tex, if you wish, I can track him..."
"It'd be pointless. There's all kinds of crazy goin' on in this city. Who knows what you'd be pickin' up?"
"Ah, yes, the tournament. I'd forgotten."
"C'mon, we're skedaddlin' before they arrest us. The last thing I want is for that jackass Prewitt to have to come an' rescue us."
***
Far away from the platform, in another dark alley no sane human would go near, a mist began to form. After it collected, it swirled and shaped itself as a man, tall and clad in a brown coat. He nearly collapsed, having to use the wall as a support. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, dark blood oozing from a large bullet wound on his shoulder. The gash on his side hadn't improved, either.
"Old man Tex is a better shot than I gave him credit for...Another foot or two and he'd have gotten me..." he said to no one, breathing heavily.
Slowly, the wound on his shoulder healed, but the exhaustion stayed, as did the wound on his side. He'd lingered as mist for far too long, taken too many hits from both the hunter and his traitorous vampiric cohort. It had weakened him.
He needed to feed. Fresh blood would help him to recover.
Heartbeats caught his attention. Young, pumped with adrenaline, beating fast. He followed the sound, melting into the shadows on the wall to hide. A moment later he could smell them, dripping with sweat and reeking of alcohol. It was another trail to follow. The smell of their life was making him almost heady.
It wasn't long before he found the source. Two humans, a couple. They must have been completely blitzed, for they were ignoring the rain and the stink of garbage and were happily going about their business, which seemed to involve her on her knees and his cock in her mouth. They even seemed to forget where they were, so close to the place humans weren't allowed to go in Prague. All the better for him...The authorities could simply pin the attack on a local bloodsucker.
Oh, he would feed well tonight. And once he'd had his fill, it would be time to find her. She was in this city somewhere...Somewhere not too far. His connection to her as her master was singing, pulling them toward one another. Yes, as soon as he was able, he'd go to her. A month apart was a month too long. A month was an awful long time to go without.
He licked his lips in anticipation of the kill, and of something else. He slowly let his incorporeal form envelop the lovers, taking his time so as not to startle them. Seeing them, and feeling the tugging of the bond, was getting his blood running. His heart began to beat in hopes of being close to her soon.
Ileina...I'm here. I'm coming.
Lightning struck somewhere, and the resulting thunder drowned out their screams.
***
Across the city from the dark alleyway where two foolish drunks were meeting a monster, a black sedan rolled through the drenched streets. The windshield wipers thumped a beat reminiscent of the tempo of a march, and the headlights cut beams through the growing night. Staring out of the backseat window was a girl, all blond curls and big blue eyes, glaring in apparent boredom.
"But why a CAR? They take sooooo long to get anywhere. We could have flown, you know." Her voice matched her face, young and innocent.
The driver, dressed in an IFPE uniform, kept his eyes glued to the road except to flick his glance to the rear-view window. Her doll-like features may fool most people, but he knew her true nature. He'd seen first-hand what she could do, and knew first-hand why they weren't on a plane.
Since her companion, a quiet man in a gray trench-coat, wasn't going to remind her why, he took it upon himself. "Look, I don't like this arrangement any more than you do, 'little miss'. If I had any say in the matter, I'd have dropped you off at an airport back in Germany and been done with it. However, thanks to your antics the last time you flew, you've been marked as 'too dangerous for public exposure'. That means no normal flights, and you know that the company isn't going waste the money to send you a private jet."
The girl rolled her eyes and uttered a little sound of disgust. "Me? 'Dangerous'? Come now, that's silly. Why do you humans overreact every time I decide I want a little snack besides those nasty peanuts?"
"Usually because that 'little snack' is the flight attendant. You frighten the citizenry, and as such a high-ranking officer of the IFPE, you should know better."
She scoffed in disbelief, then turned to the man sitting next to her. "Did you hear him, Claud? Talking down to me like I'm some kind of child!"
The man returned her gaze. "With all due respect, miss," he said with a light German accent, "he has a bit of a point. You cannot just eat people villy-nilly and expect everyone to keep covering for you. And you DO look like 'some kind of child', after all."
She whined, "I thought you were supposed to be on MY side!"
Calmly, he responded, "But I am. Together, ve are powerful. But your body ist veak. If he so chose, Prewitt could crush that shell of yours like a bug, and you'd go back to the Undervorld. I'm trying to stop you from giving him an excuse, Germaine."
Germaine sighed in defeat and went back to staring out the window, pouting. Noticing her face and feeling her mood grow sour, Claud ventured, "It may not be all bad, miss."
"How could it be any good? We were doing fine in Berlin...I didn't want to come here."
"I'm told Prague is much like the cities of the Undervorld these days."
Her eyes brightened a few shades at that. "Re~aly? How so?"
"Can't you feel it, Germaine? The conflict. There is more conflict in this city as of late than in the city of Hell. I may not like it much, but...I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself."
The 'child' sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, a wicked grin spread across her face. In that smile, the little girl was gone, and the demon within shone through.
"Oh, Claud, you're right! The hate, the violence, the strife, the suffering!" She shivered with delight. "I changed my mind. I'm GLAD Prewitt called us here!"
Their driver harrumphed. "That makes one of us, then."
"Just get us to the IFPE base, pronto!" Germaine giggled, a sound halfway between innocent and evil. "This is gonna be fuuuuuuuuunnnnn..."
Claud's expression darkened; whenever his 'mistress' was excited, it never meant anything good for other people. It was his turn to stare out of the window, into the rain and darkness.
Prewitt, I hope to God you know what you're doing...
